Archaeologists of the Buzau County Museum have discovered 31 human settlements consisting of former dwellings with wooden frames filled with clay mixed with straw, dating from prehistoric times to the first millennium AD, and hundreds of artifacts on an area of about 3,000 hectares, where a wind farm is currently being built.

Smeeni is one of the communes on whose territory the renewable energy production facilities will be set up.

According to local authorities, the choice of areas was determined by several factors. The region has favorable meteorological conditions for the exploitation of wind energy, with optimal wind speeds for the turbines to operate, and since 2010 studies and annual measurements of wind speed have been carried out.

The project required, among other things, an archaeological survey, carried out by the Buzau County Museum. As a result of the research that covered the area targeted for the investment works, which started in 2014 and continue today, it was found that, since prehistoric times, the Calmatui Creek meadow was a floodable area, with levees and erosion markers, favorable for the establishment and development of human communities. The surface was crossed by several branches of the Calmatui which, depending on the precipitation regime, formed marshes and swamps, the cultural institution shows.

The current appearance of the area has been radically altered by the undertaking of large-scale works, in the 1970s - 1980s, aimed at restoring the land to agricultural activities.

'The research lasted two months in the first phase and involved more than 180 surveys over the entire area. I think it was around 3,000 hectares, spread over 5 localities. As many as 31 sites with prehistoric settlements, up to the 1st millennium AD were discovered, consisting of settlements remains, some very large in the area of Smeeni, Caragele, Luciu. We have to imagine today's Calmatui meadow as being a swampy area, floodable, suitable for habitation some 4 - 5.000 years ago. Because the area was an economic space, there was fishing, hunting, it offered protection in times of flooding, and it was difficult to access in times of conflict. The settlement was concentrated on those areas of the levees sheltered from the floods, the dwellings resembled those we know from our great-grandmothers, with wooden frames filled with clay mixed with straw. The ridged roof was dictated by the rainfall, the houses were narrow, there were not large enough areas, 1,000 - 1,500 square meters. The economy, we are talking about sedentary communities, was based on the Neolithic practice of small animal husbandry. Now there are villages, the landscape is completely changed as a result of the drainage of the whole area, intensive agriculture is practiced, some areas are kept as pastures. From all that landscape rises 'the forest of wind turbines',' the director of the Buzau County Museum, Daniel Costache, told AGERPRES.

Traces of human presence belonging to several historical periods have been identified both on the left and on the right bank of the Calmatui river, starting with the Eneolithic, the Gumelnita culture, continuing with the first millennium AD, the Santana de Mures (Chernyakhov) culture until the Middle Ages. They consist of ceramic fragments, osteological remains, fragments of burnt glue, charcoal pigment, as well as complexes of archaeological interest.

'The importance of these private investments, which entail archaeological surveys and field diagnostics in the first stage, are vital for any museum, because they provide a lot of scientific information and enrich the cultural heritage of the institution. Today, when we are talking about wind power plants being erected, the Buzau County Museum has a contract for archaeological supervision of the areas affected by these constructions. We have recently discovered ceramic vessels, pots of different types that testify to the existence of a long habitation in this sector of the Calmatui valley, there are fragments from strainer-vessels, a type of container clearly used in a stable community. Around 200 objects have been recovered, on average, from these finds. One can tell many things from animal bones. For example, at Easter, lambs are slaughtered, surprisingly there is a slaughtering of young goats, especially related to the spring season, as by-products of prehistoric communities, a behavior that we observe throughout the Romanian space. There are many traceology studies on different samples of animal bones discovered in our county that reveal this aspect,' said Daniel Costache.

The museum specialists emphasize that without such an investment, which is being developed in the lowland area of the county, the chances of making archaeological discoveries would have been reduced, especially since not many aspects of the Calmatui valley were known from a scientific point of view. AGERPRES (RO - writing b: Florin Zafiu; EN - writing by: Simona Iacob)